AET Awards 2023

Three awards were announced during the ETC 2023. You will read separately about the Neil Mansfield Award, so here is the appraisal for the AET Awards.  

In 2022, AET introduced the AET awards to members with outstanding contributions to our community, and they are given after a nomination procedure by the members of the association. The final decision was made by the Awards Committee: Sally Scarlett, Austin Smyth, Pete Snelson, and András Munkácsy (Chair - pictured above centre).

The Excellency Award is for noteworthy contributions to the association’s activity in the past year. This acknowledgment is not only an award for outstanding efforts and achievements but aims to serve also as an inspiration to other members.

The AET Excellency Award 2023 went to Professor Pierluigi Coppola (above left) for his contribution to the academic recognition of ETC, and particularly his recent efforts and commitment – as chair of the Board and later as a Board director – to maintain the general interest in online ETCs during the Covid-19 pandemic and to assist in the delivery of an in-person conference in Milan post-pandemic, in 2022 and 2023.

The Fellowship Award recognises long-term dedication and sustained excellence in contributing to the vision, aims, and objectives of AET. In 2023, Michael Bach (above right) was awarded the AET Fellowship for his dedication not only to the transport profession but also to AET and ETC.

He is always eager to bring transport and planning professionals together, facilitate discussion, learn from each other, make knowledge applicable in policy and practice, and challenge researchers, all for the purpose of creating better places for people. He has taken on both official and informal tasks within the organization, ranging from membership of the Planning for Sustainable Land Use and Transport Programme Committee, the working group on the AET long-term vision, to an “all-time” membership of the Council, chairing countless sessions at ETC, mentoring young delegates, and filling in for the committee chair in case of absence.

Michael is always open to discuss developments in our profession, has ongoing ambitions to improve AET and ETC, and is happy to share his knowledge with others. He is a keen advocate for connecting research, policy, and practice through AET and ETC, always looking for lessons to learn for policy and new questions to pose to research.

We, as members, are grateful to the personal and engaged contributions which Pierluigi and Michael made to our association. In the end, it is the members who shape AET! Thank you!